SYNOPSIS

It is a well-known fact that smoke is the most dangerous substance in the event of fire.  Fire can spread vertically and/or  laterally when there is fuel load available.  Unlike smoke, fire can always be controlled by installing a sprinklers system.  

Smoke behaves differently from fire.  It spreads radially in all directions and following the geometry of the fire room. The geometry of the fire room or fire compartment, whether it is an almost square shape,  narrow rectangular shape, or L-rectangular shape, can have different impact on the design of the smoke control system due to their different smoke flow behaviour. Taking note that smoke control design formulae were derived from experimental results empirically; they are not theoretical formulae.  As such, the calculated results from these empirical formulae may not fit all the design situations especially for fire room/compartment with different geometry.  Other design variables such as fire load from combustible materials, fire growth rate and size, combustion by products, etc., should also be considered.  

There is no specific prescriptive code under MS to determine type of fire size for smoke control design in the factories' environments making it difficult for engineers to assume when applying engineered smoke control design.  Many resort to using air change dilution design as a simple way-out without considering the actual purpose of the smoke control system.


BIODATA OF SPEAKER

Ir. TAN CHEW

Principal – Fire Safety Engineering Consultant, GP-Team Design Sdn Bhd.  Ir. Tan Chew has more than twenty year experiences in the Fire Safety Engineering design on smoke control system for factories, industrial buildings, hypermarkets, shopping complexes, atrium, power plants, tunnel and etc.  

Ir. Tan Chew graduated from University of London for his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering during 1979 and Master of Science in Air Conditioning and Refrigeration the following year.  After working in the air conditioning and ventilation industry for about 3 years, he pursued his MBA in London City University in 1984. He is a Member of The Institution of Engineers, Malaysia (IEM) and a Registered Professional Engineer in the Board of Engineering Malaysia (BEM).  He is also a member of Society of Fire Protection Engineers, USA (SFPE), and a Member of The Institution of Fire Engineers and UK (IFE) Malaysian branch. Ir Tan Chew is representing IEM in the Technical Committee for Smoke Control (NSC13/TC4) including chairing of the working group (TC4/WG3)  and  Technical Committee in Passive Fire Safety Design (NSC13/TC2).